Cycles
by Daern
Summary: The first chapter of what is a three chapter story. Briar X Tris. Chapter two complete.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters, settings, or intellectual property that this is based off of. All of those belong to the original creator, Madame Tamora Pierce. I make no money off of anything related to this work.

Cycles

The lithe, quick figure slid from his perch on the windowsill of his room at the inn, following the roof tiles silently into the night. Arriving at the window he was looking for as dawn broke, he rapped twice on the glass. A murmured phrase which was definitely less clean than 'go away' was uttered by the room's half-asleep inhabitant, and a ringing chirp from the glass creature flying around the room. The shady figure grinned, white teeth forming a stark contrast to the early-morning dim. He slid a lock-pick from his pocket and, within seconds, the window was open.

Briar leaped down into the room, waving a hand to ward off the affectionate glass dragon that immediately swooped down on him, and prodded the huddled figure on the bed with his toe. "Oi, Coppercurls, up and go." Tris groaned half-heartedly and sat up, her curled hair in a tangled mess. Finally awake enough to notice Briar, she immediately shrieked and lightning, seemingly out of nowhere, curled around her fingers and zapped out at Briar. "Get out, get out!" she shouted at him, and Briar shrugged, leaving through the door this time. Once he had shut the door behind him, he blushed. An unexpected complication to his idea of waking her secretly was that, well, to put it in the bluntest terms, she had been naked.

Briar stuck his hands in his pockets and walked down the stairs to the dining hall and flagged down a pretty waitress who soon was pushing food in front of him as fast as he could eat it. When he had finished eating, slid the money to pay for the meal out of his pocket, and stood, Tris entered. She was fully dressed, with her braids all tied, and seemingly refused to look Briar in the eye. Briar walked over and shoved her jokingly. "C'mon Coppercurls, get a move on. It was your idea to learn gardening. And you gotta get up early for that!"

Briar led her out the door, ignoring her protests as he led the merchant girl around the back of the inn to a small plot of land covered in little green things. Tris stared doubtfully. "Er, Briar, this is on the inn's land, right?" Briar shrugged. "They're gettin' a good garden out of this plot o' junk. They ain't complainatating." Tris raised an eyebrow, but otherwise ignored his made-up mish-mash word. Ever since he realized how much it got under Sandry's skin, Briar had been almost unconsciously messing up words. Briar grinned and crouched down into the dirt. "Alright, time for the first step of any gardening: weeding!" And with a wave of a hand he demonstrated the amount of sheer weeding that would be happening. Tris sighed, then, lowering herself to her knees, reached for the first weed.

As she pulled, Briar's hand suddenly clapped down over hers. She was about to shout at him, when his other hand came over to help her into the right position. His hand was surprisingly soft and warm for having plants and vines writhing on it, and she blushed. Briar pretended not to notice. "You gotta pull up the roots, too, 'r'else the weed'll grow back the next day." Tris sighed and returned to work, correctly this tame, as Briar leaned on a wall, enjoying acting Rosethorn for once, having another weed for him.

After about an hour in which Tris seemed to make little to no progress, Briar abruptly pushed off the wall and set off towards the front of the inn. --Where are you going?-- she sent through their bond. She sensed him grin, and felt his reply in her mind. --The cook just got up, and I smell breakfast. You, er, keep up the good work, Coppercurls.-- She stuck out her tongue, and suddenly got the distinct impression that he had seen it. Sighing, she bent down once more, reaching for the next weed, remembering Briar's advice. Pull up the roots, too. she repeated to herself, as the monotony began to settle in.

Tris lost track of time, sinking into the motion as if it was one of the pattern magics the four had used during the pirate attacks. More time passed. Suddenly, her magic blazedin her vision, wrapped by some slimy vine. She struggled, raging against it, and launched rage-powered energy at the one who held her power trapped. How dare they!

On the receiving end of her power, Briar collapsed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters, settings, or intellectual property that this is based off of. All of those belong to the original creator, Madame Tamora Pierce. I make no money off of anything related to this work.

Cycles

Chapter 2

Niko was never particularly pleased when he was disturbed while scrying, and even less so when the man disturbing him had no good reason. "You knew we were mages when we bought our rooms, and you took our money readily enough then." he said, looking down his angular nose at the red-faced inn-keeper. "Well, yes...but, well..." the man spluttered, flustered. "Your girl stude-". Even as he began, Niko had been turning to close his door and go back to his meditation. But..._Could Tris be in danger?_ Niko turned back to the man and said, dangerously calm, "What has happened?" The man withered under his harsh gaze, and seemed incapable of finishing a sentence. Niko rolled his eyes and shut the door in the man's face, and headed back to try and scry, homing in on Tris this time. He caught flashes of reality, future, and past. Expertly weaving between could-have-been futures and might-have-been pasts, he at last locked on the the near future, in perhaps three hours. But...this vision did not have Tris in it. Strange...Niko suddenly shot out of his trance, and his scrying mirror went flying, shattering when it landed. "Damn it!"

Briar regained consciousness in bits, like a drowning man, fighting his way to the surface with the minimal strength left in his body. Here, a flash of light, there, a sudden noise, until finally, achingly, he was awake. Instantly, he wished he wasn't. He looked down, and noticed that all of his exposed skin had a layer of ash on it. His second realization was that it hurt even to move. Briar was enough of a scholar of the human body to know that this would pass. But what was most shocking was the silence. There were plants in the room, he could see them, but he couldn't hear them! He reached out with his magic...nothing. Briar lay in a strange bed, isolated, alone, and...scared.

Tris continued to pour magic into the pattern, even though she had long ago lost control. It continued to pull her in, to steal her magic. She raged against it, but to no avail. Suddenly...it vanished. And she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Calm, Tris. Calm. You almost lost yourself in that spell! What were you thinking?" She sagged against Niko, not caring that he shouted at her, merely thankful he could help her stand. "Tris." he began, calm but anxious, "Tris, where is Briar?"

Tris stared back at him, seemingly uncomprehending, and muttered, "He just left to get..." She trailed off, realizing it was dark now, certainly not the bright morning it had been when Briar had left to eat. Her eyes widening, she demanded "What time is it, Niko!" He closed his eyes as if with a headache. "Late. By the innkeeper's count, it's been seven hours since Briar left." Tris jerked her head up to stare him in the face. "Where could he be..."

Briar was now able to twitch his toes and fingers with no pain. With his extensive knowledge of the workings of human nerves, he saw that as a good sign. He was working his way up to head movement when a sudden snapping sound startled him into closing his eyes, pretending to be unconscious. A creak signaled a door opening, and then a slam of it closing, then that same snapping sound, which Briar now realized was someone using magic to move something. Three heavy footsteps sounded, each closer. The man or woman making them was wearing heavy boots. The steps stopped short of Briar's bed, and he flinched. A chuckle whisked down at Briar.

"Hello." The man broke into a coughing fit. Briar struggled to place his face for his vision was slightly blurred and at an angle. But as he looked closer he realized...

Niko raced down the street, turned a corner sharply, and collided heavily with the man who had been on the other side. "Watch where the hell you're going, by Mila!" the man cursed, and Niko saw that his white doublet was covered with blood. He bent to help the man up, but he stood without help, seemingly uninjured. He looked into Niko's face for a moment, broke into a mad grin, and walked off, accelerating away. Niko ignored the man once he was sure he wasn't injured. He restarted his tracking spell and reached out for Briar...

Who suddenly he could not find.


End file.
